Witchcraft trial accounts could fetch £76,000

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Four rare volumes at auction tell of Scotland's last major witchcraft trial

An account of the last major witchcraft trial in Scotland and the burning of its five victims, accused of sorcery by an 11-year-old girl, is expected to fetch up to £76,000 when it comes under the hammer as part of a set of four rare books on witchcraft at Christie's, in New York, next month.

In 1696, Christian Shaw, the daughter of the Laird of Bargarran, in Renfrewshire, accused three men and three women of “bewitching her” and “being in league with the Devil”.

Accounts differ as to whether Christian really felt she was bewitched, but her symptoms supposedly included

A programme, funded by the Wellcome Trust and called The Sick of the Fringe, will acknowledge that many entertainers who come to the city for the festivities face a month-long mental and physical ordeal